A still-flourishing rite of passage for many girls and young women, pageants are a contest that gauges several facets of a contestant: her beauty, poise, grasp of the world, and talent. Guiding their children to hopefully new heights of beauty, poise and artistry, many parents also secure the services of a pageant coach to educate contestants ahead of time on the obvious and not-so-noticeable methods of ensuring pageant success. Though a pageant coach cannot bequeath beauty, he or she can bestow upon students a sense that beauty is certainly an attainable goal.
A pageant coach often advertises his or her own successes in the field as well as those of his or her students, and charges students hourly to share insider knowledge. Some coaches offer phone services, which are geared toward helping contestants through the tougher interview portions of beauty pageants. Still others are storefront operations that, along with interview help, walk students young and old through the paces of stage walking, modeling basics, makeup, poise, etiquette and wardrobe selection. These services can cost $100 US Dollars (USD) or more an hour.
Depending on the age of the pageant hopeful, a coach might focus on different facets of the contests. Along with poise, wardrobe and competence during an interview, younger pageant participants also are regularly judged in a talent portion, encouraging young initiates to develop more than just vanity-related capabilities. Still, even the coaching of younger contestants appears to be largely focused on developing confidence on stage, in wardrobe and makeup that translates into points on paper.
For younger contestants, a pageant coach may be preparing children for local or regional pageants. These are sometimes held by municipalities to elect an annual queen of the city. Other times, an industry might host a pageant to choose, for instance, a blueberry queen or strawberry princess to ride a car in an upcoming parade and attend various functions throughout the year. Accredited beauty pageant organizations also hold local or regional competitions that end every year with major crowns and prizes being awarded.
As contestants age and start thinking about attempting the official pageant circuit, a pageant coach might start to intensify the preparation for interview questions and modeling techniques. Many nations hold an annual pageant to crown the nation's "queen." For instance, the Miss America pageant includes a talent, interview, swimsuit, formal wear and group dance component. Beyond that, contestants from all over the world can compete in a Miss World or Miss Universe competition for more widespread beauty credentials.